Wing  Zero attacks Durban

The ZAFT’s coastal base, Durban, sat nestled between the deep blue of the ocean and the luscious greens of the jungle. To its front, the waves crashed along the beachfront, and the piers, spraying a mist into the air with every break. To the rear, the base seemed to barely fight off the encroaching undergrowth and foliage that sprouted forth from the South African jungle; vines climbing the walls, almost engulfing the base into its surroundings.

On this day the sun sat high over the base, the light refracted through the vapor that lingered in the air creating a spectacle of rainbows around the base. Birds could be heard chirping as their songs echoed through out the jungle that flanked Durban. Two guards sat in the command center to keep communications open with the patrolling marine suits, while their officers broke for lunch.

—–

Below the calm waves of the Mozambique Channel, the water churned violently as a squad of amphibious suits in swim mode sped along. They were in the middle of their routine patrol of the area; they were to prevent any surprise attacks, and to escort any submarines that entered their water space. They just finished their first sector and turned to head towards their next destination.

“Command, this is Flounder 01, Sectors 1 and 2 in the Northeast are clear, continuing patrol to the south, out.” The transmission crackled over the radio loudly, booming through out the Command Center. The sudden break in the silence startled the two guards from their almost slumber.

“Roger that Flounder 01, Northeast is clear, update us once the South has been scanned.”

“Where’d everyone go…? I wish they’d get back so we could go get so…”

Before the guard could finish his statement the room began to glow an eerie white. The two froze and fear overcame their eyes. The two tried to get up and make an attempt to escape, but before they could stand the building exploded. The Command Center went up in a beam of light, rubble flying everywhere as the building ceased to exist.

—–

The Wing Zero soared high above the clouds in Neo-Bird mode, the sun reflecting brightly off the armor of the gundam. Dimitri readied his self for the assault as he checked all of his equipment and sensors. All checks were green; the pilot took a deep breath as he donned his helmet and initiated the ZERO System.

“Let’s hope I can be stronger this time…” He whispered to himself as he pushed the throttle forward and sent the bird mode hurtling towards his target, Durban.

The Gundam exited the clouds at an alarming speed, the trajectory brought him out in front of the sun, masking his descent on the unsuspecting base. He smiled as everything seemed to be running well. As he neared the base, ZERO began pulling targets up on the screen, but the pilot saw what he was wanting, and quickly transformed into mobile suit mode.

Coming to a hover, he trained the buster rifle on the Command Center, and let out a blast that engulfed the building. The structure exploded, raining debris all around the base; a crater and scorched earth scarring the beautiful landscape was all that remained of the Command tower.

—–

ZZZZzzzzrrrrkkkkttttzzzZZZzzzzzkkkrrtttttzzzz

The radios crackled with static before going dead, stopping the marine patrol in their tracks. Shortly after radio silence, a seismic pulse surged through the water, they all went silent. The leader in the ZnO was the first to break their silence as he reached for his radio.

“What happened?!” Flounder 01 screamed over the radio as he frantically flipped channels trying to get hold of someone top side before getting through to the airfield.

“Flounder 01 this is Scuttle 02, the base has been compromised, I repeat, we have been compromised…” The leader of the Aerial Squad replied, stress in his voice, as he surveyed the damage.

“Take your squad to the air! Find out who did this!” Flounder 01 shouted over his comm., before quickly motioning to his squad to return towards the piers.

—–

The Wing Zero began to shake as the impact of the explosions rattled the suit. The missile turrets launched volley after volley into the air, and the AA machine guns blanketed the sky with bullets. All the defenses fired blindly into the sun, only able to make out a slight silhouette of a mobile suit against the bright circle in the sky.

Dimitri was fighting ZERO as it tried to overpower him, but finally he gave his will over to the machine. The screens began lighting up with target after target, his brain being filled with every calculable outcome and course of action. With out hesitation he pushed forward once more on his controls and continued his descent towards the ground, effortlessly dodging missiles and bullets, occasionally taking hits as the bullets pelted off his gundanium armor.

With a few quick adjustments he rolled his suit and came to a halt just above the ground and let loose a hail of machine cannon fire on the stationary targets. The ground was riddled with bullets, as the majority of them tore through several AA turrets, and destroying all four of the laser turrets. Before ZERO could take out any other of the ground defenses the DINNs registered on its screen. Dimitri, with out remorse, leveled his buster rifle at the approaching aerial suits and began to create a firing solution. But before he could pull the trigger, he suddenly took his suit into a barrel roll to avoid the now active Heavy Cannons.

Annoyed with the land defenses, and looking to minimize damage, he turned the suit and led the DINNs towards the water. The flying suits broke off and surrounded the Wing Zero as the five mobile suits hovered just above the water’s surface, thrusters causing the water to break violently. For a moment everything seemed to stop, as the Gundam withdrew its two beam sabers.

Seeing their adversary reach for its weapons, the four DINNs charged forward, anti-air shotguns in hand. The Wing Zero just sat there, awaiting its impending doom.

3…

2…

1…

As the DINNs went to unload on the suit, it boosted into the sky in a flash. Dimitri quickly flipped his suit around and spiraled downwards, falling upon two of the winged mobile suits, slicing them in half. Before the other two could react, he quickly boosted his suit 90 degrees the other direction, running his beam sabers through each of their cockpits before kicking them into the ocean in a rain of fire and explosions.

—–

“Nooooooo!” Flounder 01 yelled as the remnants of a fallen DINN passed across his screen as it sank to the murky bottom of the Mozambique Channel. He quickly transformed his ZnO into mobile suit mode, and his squad did much the same following his actions. He stared up at the surface, seeing the shimmering silhouette of the enemy mobile suit. The pilot growled as he tensed on the controls.

—–

“Time to end this…” Dimitri muttered in an almost lifeless tone. The pilot trained his buster rifle on the base, this time with the intent to take the whole base in one shot. The end of the rifle began to glow a furious white as he charged his weapon.

“I don’t think so!” The surface of the water exploded violently as a mobile suit erupted from the depths. The giant claws of the ZnO embraced the Wing Zero, knocking away its Buster Rifle, and dragging it back below the water all in an instant.

Dimitri snapped out of the trance of the ZERO system and awoke to a panic. All he could see on his screens was water… and five very angry looking amphibious mobile suits. Before he could react the lead ZnO let loose a volley of missiles that hit Wing Zero in its chest; water began to leak into his cockpit, he knew it was time to make his exit. He had been lucky his armor held out, and he took this opportunity to escape as the water around him filled with smoke and bubbles from the exploding missiles.

As soon as the water cleared the Aquatic Squad could not find a trace of their enemy. They all broke the surface to see the suit in the distance, limping away. They had defended their home, but had lost comrades in the process…

“Sebastian, this is Flounder 01… Enemy has been deterred… the DINNs have been terminated… over…”

—–
Outcome: Durban Stands; 4 DINNs Destroyed, 3 Missile Turrets Destroyed, 4 Laser Turrets Destroyed, Command Center lost.

Wing Zero: 4 days damage, 15vp